The investigation also found that Indian companies in the honey business imported synthetic sugar syrups from China to adulterate them with honey.
Honey marketed by prominent brands failed a key test for purity, the Center for Science and the Environment (CSE) found in an investigation.
There are a number of purity tests to determine whether honey has been adulterated with sugar.
CSE food researchers selected 13 brands of raw and processed honey, including Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, and Zandu, and subjected them to testing that India’s food regulatory laws require that they be labeled as honey.
Most brands passed the exam, but when they underwent a test, called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (which can determine the composition of a product on a molecular level) that was performed in a laboratory in Germany, only three of the brands passed.
The NMR test is not required by Indian law, but is required by Indian companies wishing to export honey.
“What we found was shocking,” said Amit Khurana, program director for CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins team. “It shows how the adulteration business has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India … We have found that sugar syrups are designed to be undetectable.”
Sunita Narain, general director of CSE, said: “We are consuming honey, more to combat the pandemic. But honey adulterated with sugar will not cure us. “
The investigation also found that Indian companies in the honey business were importing synthetic sugar syrups from China to adulterate with honey. These syrups, Dr. Narain said, were capable of passing adulterated honey, even half of which was mixed with sugar, as “pure honey.”
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